Nightmares
by Namikaze Artemis
Summary: A series of one-shots featuring Naruto and how his life might have been different if Minato were alive. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

Nightmares

Naruto got up suddenly from his bed, clentching the covers. He was sweating.

He glanced at the clock. 2:00 a.m.

Naruto sighed, thinking of his nightmare. He was seven years old, and without doubt, every month, he had that nightmare. Although he didn't really remember when he was a baby, he remembered having that nightmare at least fifty times.

And it never got better.

Naruto grabbed his stuffed frog, Gama-chan, that he got on his sixth birthday. He pulled back his blankets and placed his bare feet on the floor.

He walked over to the door and opened it, with a creak.

His feet tapped on the floor as he made his way towards his father's room.

As Namikaze Minato was the Hokage, his house was pretty big. Back when Naruto was younger, he often got lost. But now, he could find Minato's room half-asleep and in the dark- like now.

His small hands gripped the doorknob to Minato's room, and turned it. He opened the door a crack, and peeked at Minato.

Naruto often did this, whenever he had a nightmare. He calmed down when he saw Minato- it helped him sleep.

But, this night, Minato was awake as well. He wasn't the Hokage for nothing- he promptly noticed Naruto.

"Naruto? Is something wrong?" Minato blinked at Naruto, sitting up in his bed.

"Oh!" Naruto blinked and put on a carefree smile. "No, don't worry about it!"

"Naruto..." Minato sighed. "You don't have to keep everything to yourself."

Naruto looked at Minato through the crack, opened the door slightly wider and walked over to Minato's bed.

He jumped up on the bed, sitting down.

Minato smiled gently at Naruto. "So, Naruto. Why're you here?"

Naruto looked up at Minato, then looked back down to the ground. "I... had a nightmare."

"A nightmare?" Minato said. "What sort?"

"I.. This nightmare... I have it a lot." Naruto admitted. "It's... the Kyuubi, I think."

Minato blinked guiltily. He was fully ready to seal the Kyuubi in Naruto himself when the Sandaime stepped in- one wrong step and it could've been himself who had died- and sealed the Kyuubi in Naruto.

He told Naruto about the Kyuubi a couple of years ago, figuring that it was better to tell him first, before someone else did either by accident or on purpose.

"Everyone that I care for... they're dying..." Naruto clentched the covers. "And there's myself, just looking on impassively... and then it all ends with manical laughter... I think it's Kyuubi..."

"I'm sorry." Minato said softly.

"Why?" Naruto grinned at Minato. "You didn't seal Kyuubi in me- I don't blame the Sandaime for sealing it in me either."

Minato ruffled Naruto's hair. "Okay, then."

"Don't rub my hair!" Naruto complained, trying to straighten his hair.

"What does it matter?" Minato laughed. "Your hair's already messy from sleeping."

"Hmmph." Naruto crossed his arms, looking to the side.

1010101010

**I'm going to write a number of _very_ short one-shots when I'm bored of writing something else.**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Minato smiled politely at the Uchiha Head, who was standing in front of him in the doorway of Minato's house.

"Hello, Fugaku-san. I'm assuming you're here to drop of Sasuke?" Minato asked.

"Hello to you as well, Yondaime-san." Fugaku smiled politely at Minato. " As we both have a meeting to attend, I am forced to let Sasuke come here. Both Mikoto and Itachi are busy, after all. I'll have you know that I would never leave Sasuke here otherwise."

Minato continued to smile politely. "And I will have you know that I would never let Sasuke stay here if Naruto hadn't been friends with him. Is that clear?"

"Oh yes, very clear." Fugaku stated.

Both Naruto and Sasuke sweat-dropped.

"I wonder why it feels so tense even though your dad and my dad are both smiling." Naruto whispered to Sasuke.

"Um... Maybe it's because they don' t mean it?" Sasuke offered, shrugging.

Some more sensitive people might have perhaps seen sparks flying in between the Hokage and the Uchiha Head.

"Good-bye, Sasuke." Fugaku said with a impassive face. " Make sure you don't do anything to tarnish the Uchiha name, like the student of Yondaime-san."

Minato twitched, but impressively managed to keep a polite smile on his face.

"See you in the night then, Naruto." Minato smiled and rubbed Naruto's head. "Have fun, and don't do any pranks."

The difference in affection between the two fathers was obvious.

"Don't rub my hair, Dad!" Naruto complained, trying to straighten out his hair.

Minato laughed and left the house.

Two ANBU jumped down from the ceiling. One was wearing a mask of a raven, the other wearing a mask of a dog.

"Is that stupid Fugaku gone?" Raven asked retorically. "No offense, Sasuke."

"None taken." Sasuke smiled slightly. _I understand that some people don't like Father._

"Tarnish the Uchiha name? Seriously, one of these days he's going to try a coup d'état." Dog muttered. "He didn't need to disown you for giving away a Sharingan."

"I expected it." Raven shrugged. "But it was easier than buying you some other present."

"Giving me an EYE was easier than buying something?" Dog said incredulously.

"We've had this conversation before, Kakashi." Raven sighed. " Stop blaming yourself for my disownment. Besides, I was the black sheep of the Uchiha Clan from the moment I was born. Besides, not being an Uchiha made it easier to marry Rin."

"Question." Naruto put up his hand. "Kakashi-nii, Obito-nii, aren't you supposed to not say your actual names when you're wearing your ANBU masks?"

"I thought so too." Sasuke nodded.

Kakashi and Obito both took off their masks.

"Is it fine now?" Kakashi asked.

"Can you take off your other mask as well?" Naruto begged, his hands clenched together with hope.

"No ch- Wait. Sure." Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Huh?" Naruto and Sasuke blinked in unision.

"Under my mask is..." Kakashi grabbed his mask, then pulled it down. "Another mask!"

"What?" Naruto cried.

"That's not fair." Sasuke muttered.

"I knew it!" Obito rolled his eye. "I knew you were going to tease them like that. Even I haven't seen under your mask- has anyone?"

"Nope!" Kakashi eye-smiled.

Obito sighed and shook his head. "Well, that's the situation. You better give up on seeing under Kakashi's mask."

"Never!" Naruto swore. "Right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke simply cracked a smile at his forever-cheerful friend.

"Kay. Obito-nii, Kakashi-nii, we're going to my room!" Naruto cried. He grabbed Sasuke's hand and dragged him down the hallway to his room.

"So, what are you planning?" Sasuke sighed.

"How did you know I'm planning something?" Naruto grinned.

"You're planning to try to see under Kakashi-nii's mask, right?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It's obvious."

"Okay, then." Naruto opened his closet. "There's water balloons... Yeah, water balloons are good."

Sasuke sighed. "Let's go, then."

1010101010

Naruto peeked at Kakashi and Obito.

"Ya!" Naruto threw a water ballon at Kakashi.

Kakashi wasn't a ninja for nothing- he dodged it easily.

"Now, now, Naruto. Yondaime-sama told you not to play pranks, didn't he?" Kakashi walked up to Naruto and Sasuke and smiled.

"Uh oh." Naruto and Sasuke paled.

Just then, Obito's hand snaked around Kakashi and clentched on his mask.

"You forgot that I want to see under your mask as well." Obito smirked. "Now let's see... hey! It won't go down!"

"I got Yondaime-sama to place a seal on it that only allows me to take it off." Kakashi eye-smiled.

"WHAT!"

1010101010


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Since I have tons of free time because I can't currently update on Uchiha Obito Ghost!... Here's the next one-shot!**

Pets

"Hey, Naruto!" Minato smiled at Naruto. They were in the dining room of Minato's house, and they were eating dinner. Although they both preferred ramen, because Minato knew the virtues of proper nutrition, he was forcing Naruto to have something different.

"What is it, Dad?" Naruto asked, poking at his plate of food. He was currently nine years old.

"You were asking about having a pet, right?" Minato asked, turning his head slightly to the side.

Naruto nodded, holding his breath.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt." Minato sighed resignedly.

Naruto's eyes widened and he placed a grin on his face. He jumped at Minato and hugged him. "Thanks, Dad!"

"Hey, hey..." Minato laughed good-naturedly. "Get off."

Naruto stepped back to his seat.

"So, what do you say?" Minato asked, looking at Naruto. "We can go to the store, say, tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" Naruto said cheerfully.

"Now, why don't you eat your vegetables." Minato grinned.

"Aw..." Naruto complained, poking at the vegetables on his plate. "Do I have to?"

"Yes." Minato stated.

1010101010

"Hi, Sasuke!" Naruto grinned, running up to Sasuke. They were in the Academy's classroom and class hadn't started yet. "Guess what?"

"Minato-san let you get a pet." Sasuke stated with a slight smile.

"How'd you know?" Naruto complained.

"It's obvious." Sasuke stated, placing his head onto his hand. "You were practically mesmerized by Hai, my cat... and you mentioned wanting to have a cat as well."

"Er, yeah, I guess you're right." Naruto admitting, taking a seat next to Sasuke. "'Cause Hai was really cool! And so soft! And cute!"

"I suppose. Uchiha have always been associated with cats." Sasuke pointed out.

"Well, it matches you. 'Cause you're independent, like the cats. And kinda 'cool', like cats." Naruto mused, scratching his head.

" 'Cool'?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I don't really get it."

"It doesn't matter." Naruto shook his head, dismissing what he had said.

Just then, Sakura and Ino made their appearance in the door. "Ino-pig!"

"Forehead!"

"Oh, joy." Naruto groaned, placing his head onto the desk. "It's the banshees. I'm not here!"

"I don't think that'll work, Naruto." Sasuke said, exhasperated. _Not that I blame you._

Sakura and Ino raced up to Sasuke and Naruto.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun..." Sakura scratched her cheek in embarassment. "Can I sit next to you?"

"Don't be stupid! I'm going to sit next to Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun!" Ino exclaimed, glaring at Sakura.

Naruto groaned, not lifting his head up.

_Why? Just because I'm first or second... mostly second... darn you, Sasuke!... in all of the Academy stuff, and the Yondaime's my dad, people 'like' me... fangirls..._

_Dad suggested just ignoring them, but they just screech more..._

_Sasuke said that Uchiha usually have fangirl problems, because they're an 'elite' clan, and it's impossible to get rid of fangirls._

_Just great, dattebayo._

"Can... you go?" Naruto mumbled.

"I agree." Sasuke muttered.

"Of course, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed, hearts for eyes.

Ino nodded as well, her hands clasped together.

Naruto turned his head towards Sasuke. "Well, at least they're gone for now... Yay!"

Sasuke smirked slightly at Naruto's near-permanent cheerfullness. "Uh huh."

Naruto glanced at the clock. "Class is going to start in three... two... one..."

The bell rang and Iruka promptly made his way into the classroom.

1010101010

Naruto and Minato made their way into a pet store after the Academy had ended for the day. Luckily, Minato had managed to finish up his paperwork early today, so he had some free time.

"Wow..." Naruto's eyes lit up as he regarded all of the pets. Cats, dogs, hamsters, fish, birds... the selection was amazing.

"Ho-hokage-sama!" the employee exclaimed. She was a young, brown-haired civilian. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, what else?" Minato smiled. "To get a pet, of course."

"Um... I see." the employee nodded, looking at Naruto. He was currently staring at the antics of the puppies. "Do you need any help?"

"Ah, no, I think we'll just look around." Minato said, nodding politely at the employee. He walked up to Naruto. "Did you find anything you liked?"

"They're all so... cute!" Naruto exclaimed. "And cool!"

Minato laughed.

"But... hm..." Naruto raced around the store, looking at various pets. "I like the cats..."

"The cats?" Minato blinked. Personally, he didn't like cats much... mostly because of the Uchiha... but if that was Naruto wanted...

"See, this one! The black-blue furred one with the black eyes!" Naruto grinned. There was a mischievous look in his eyes. "It looks just like Sasuke! It even has a surperior look in it's eye!"

Minato sweat-dropped. "Can you tell that?"

"I want this one! Please, dad?" Naruto looked up at Minato with his big blue eyes. "Please?"

Minato sighed. "Oh, fine. You want this one, right?"

"Yup!" Naruto grinned cheerfully.

1010101010

Naruto waved a feather above the cat's head, and the cat tried to catch it.

"What are you going to call it?" Minato asked, regarding the cat.

"Um..." Naruto frowned. "Let me think... Tsuki!"

"Tsuki? Moon?" Minato blinked. "Why?"

"Because 'Yoru' is weird, and 'Tsuki' is in 'Night', or 'Yoru'." Naruto explained, smiling at the newly-named Tsuki.

"If you say so. He's your cat, after all." Minato scratched his head. "So, what do you want for dinner?"

"Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning.

Minato sighed. "Seriously, Naruto..."

"We haven't had ramen for _ages!_" Naruto complained, crossing his arms. Tsuki, meanwhile, rubbed against Naruto's leg.

"I don't think six days counts as ages..." Minato rolled his eyes. "But, ah well. I suppose we can have ramen tonight."

Naruto's eyes widened with happiness. "Yay!"

1010101010

**And? How was it?**


End file.
